Garment finishing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A garment finishing apparatus for dewrinkling clothes including a cabinet into the interior of which clothes to be finished are placed via a door, a steam generator for converting water into steam which is then emitted into the interior of the cabinet for dewrinkling the clothes, the steam generator being characterized by instantaneously converting the water into steam and generating a predetermined quantity of steam per garment refinishing cycle irrespective of the pressure at which the water is supplied to the steam generator, and air circulating and heating means for recirculating hot air through the interior of the cabinet to dry the previously steamed clothes.

[ Apr. 23, 1974 United States Patent [191 Bullock GARMENT FINISHINGAPPARATUS Primary Examiner-William I. Price [75] Inventor: Norman J.Bullock, Prospect, Ky. Attorney Agent or Hem)" Evans [73] W. M. CissellManul'acturin Company, Louisville, Ky.

Assignec:

ABSTRACT A garment finishing apparatus for dewrinkling clothes cluding acabinet into the interior of which clothes e finished are placed via adoor, a steam generator r converting water into steam which is thenemitted into the interior of the cabinet for dewrinkling the clothes,the steam generator being characteriz instantaneously converting thewater into stea generating a predetermined b .mm 2 7 9 l 8 H1 "m u J2 aN .ml 0. MP FA 1] 21.. 22 ll.

yd bnm s d r me p m a m S f 0 W U n a u q ng cycle irrespective of thepressure at M .B n r" m t m m m R R 2M2 I/I a a s CW 5 w R 5 WW mm6 M mmuh W: C WI m "H" n n e um fi mTm a mmr R m m it l WM Umn 1]] l, 2 8 6555 5 which the water is supplied to the steam generator,

ating and heating means for recirculatin UNITED STATES PATENTS 68/5 Cand air circul g 68/5 (2 hot air through the interior of the cabinet todry the 68/5 C previously steamed clothes. 68/5 C ML a e! w e le 3 BP3,049,903 Sussman................................ 3,5 l 3,669 Nirenberg6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures TATENTEU APR 23 m4 SHEEI 1 OF 2 PATENTEH APR2 3 m4 SH'LET 2 BF 2 1 TREATING AGENT DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF THElNVENTlON g The present invention relates to automatic clothes washingmachines that proceed through a sequence of operation in order to washand spin dry clothes. The sequence ordinarily includes a wash operation,a liquid extraction operation, a rinse operation, and a final extractionoperation. Prior art machines have been provided with a second oroptional washcycle. In machines equipped with the' optional wash cycles,provision has been made, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,912 to John Bochanassigned to General Electric, assignee of the present invention, toinsert a treating agent such as soap or detergent automatically duringthis second or subsequent wash Prior art, as in vU.S. Pat. No.3,l27,067-l-lal1 et al shows a lid. mounted single compartment dispenserthat may be filled with treating agent when the lid is in its openposition and the agent may then be flushed out of the dispenser afterthelid is closed by a flow of water initiated in accordance with .therequirements of the machine operation.

, It is an object of this invention" to providea new and improvedtreating agent dispenser for an automatic washing machine whichincludesa novel arrangement for placing the treating agent in the dispenser andfor discharging the.treating agent during a second or subsequentwashoperations SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION By this invention, there-is provideda treating agent dispenser that is removably mounted on the access lidof the washing machine. The dispenser is provided with a hinged coverwhich is located on the topof. the dispenser when the access lid is inthe open position, so that a treating agent may be placed therein. Theinner surface of the cover becomes the bottom .wall of the dispenserwhen the machine access lidis in the closed position. The dispenseringress opening is located near the top of the dispenser when the accesslid is in'the open position so as to be located in a plane generallywith the innersurface of the egress opening so that treating agentplaced lnthedispetiser'locates on the inner surface of the cover whenthe access lid is closed and is in the path of the flow of waterentering the in gress opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a. top plane view of anautomatic fabric washing machine incorporating one embodiment of theinvention. with parts broken' away to show certain details; I V

FIG. 2 isanefilarged,-t'ragmentary side elevational view taken alonglines 2-'2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a,per'sp'ective view of the dispenser of the DESCRIPTION OFTHE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown thereinan agitator type clothes washing machine 10 having a clothes basket 11disposed within an outer imperforate tub 12; The tub '12 is mountedwithin an appearance cabinet 13 which includes an access lid or cover 14hinged at 16 for providing access to the clothes basket 11. In themachine shown in the present invention the lid 14 rotates substantiallyfrom an open to a closed position. At the center of the basket there ispositione'd a verticalaxis agitator 17. The details of construction ofsuch an automatic washing machine are further disclosed in hereinbeforementioned US. Pat. No. 3,248,912 to John Bochan.

The liquid to be supplied to the basket 11 for collection in the outertub 12 for washing clothes is supplied through-a liquid water inletbody18. The water inlet body 18 communicates with the inlet of a diverter 19which is provided with twooutlet channels 21 and 22. Channel 21 isprovided with a downwardly directed opening 23 which is disposed tonormally direct a stream of fluid tangentially along the surface of afilter ring 24 arranged over the basket 11, while the channel 22terminates at an outlet 26. The outlet 26 is disposed tocommunicate withan inlet opening 27 of the dispenser 28 which incorporates oneembodiment of the dispensing system of the present invention. Thediverter 19 and its operation for diverting fluid from outlet 23 tooutlet 26, will hereinafter be described in detail. Mounted on thecabinet 13 is a control compartment in which are located controldevices, including a conventional cycle controller 30 which conducts thewashing machine andthe diverter 19 through a cycle of operations.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3 and more particularly to FIG. 3,. it will beseen thatlthe dispenser 28 is removably supported'on the undersurface ofthe access lid 14 by a mounting member 29. The mounting member 29 issecured to the access lid- 14' by'the same fastening meansused to securethe hinges 16 to the lid 14. The rnember'29 is provided with a recessportion 31 and sidewalls 32 and 33. In order to facilitate the insertionor the removal of the dispenser 28 from the member 29, the walls 32 and33 are-provided with grooves 34 adjacent the bottom wall of the recess31;

The dispenser 28isprovided with projections or rails 36 which aredimensioned to slidably, engage the grooves 34 to guide the dispenser 28into or out of the recess3l of the member 29. Latching means areprovided in the present embodiment to properly locate the inlet 27 ofthe dispenser relative to the outlet 26 and to prevent the force ofwater entering the opening 27 from dislodgingthe dispenser from themounting member 29. Accordingly, notches 37 are located on the sidewalls 32 and 33 near the open end of the recess 31. A pair ofprojections 38 are formed on the side walls of the dispenser 28 toengage the notches 37 when the dispenser is properly located in therecess 31. The dispenser, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4, is positioned sothat is treating agent may be inserted into a chamber 39 formed therein.The chamber 39 is positioned in one corner of the dispenser 28 so as toprovide a distribution or manifold area 41 (FIG; 5) around two sides ofwalls 42 and 43 of the chamber 39. As seen in FIG. 4, sides 42 and 43are provided with inlet openings 44 located along the upper edgesadjacent the top of the dispenser 28. The ingress opening 27 is locatedon the dispenser front wall along the upper edge adjacent the top of thedispenser so as to be in substantially the same plane as the openings 44(PK). 2) in chamber walls 42 and 43. Access to the chamber 39 isprovided by a cover 46 (FIG. 3) which has a hinge portion 47 along therear outer wall which is formed integral with the dispenser body 28. Alatch 48 formed integral with the dispenser 28 is provided for holdingthe cover 46 in a closed position. The cover 46 is formed with raisedside walls 49 along three of its sides that engage the top surface ofthe dispenser 28. The open end of the cover 46 forms one side of anegress opening 51 as viewed in FIG. 6. The cover. as seen in FIG. 5,extends beyond the dispenser body so as to provide a lip or spout 52.

, With the dispenser 28 secured to the mounting member 29 and thechamber 39 containing the treating agent to be dispensed, the cover 46is latched and the lid 14 rotated substantially 180 to its closedposition as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to place the dispenser 28 over thebasket 11. As indicated at 53 (FIG. 2), the treating agent locates onthe inner surface of the cover 46 which. due to the 180 rotation of lid14, now becomes the lower or bottom wall of the chamber 39. As mentionedhereinbefore, in this position the opening 27 in the dispenser wall isin alignment with the outlet 26 of the diverter 19. Due to the volume ofthe manifold area 41 and the dimension of the openings 44, the flow ofwater entering through the opening 27 will first tend to fill the area41 before it is directed through the openings 44 and across the bottomor inner wall of cover 46 to flush the treating agent 53 through theopening 51 whenever water is diverted into the dispenser inlet 27. Thisarrangement insures that water will enter the compartment 39 through allof the openings 44 even in the event of low water pressure.

Means are provided inthe present invention to effectively retain thetreating agent in the dispenser and prevent its spilling out of theinlet opening 27 during rotation of the lid 14 to its closed positionand in the event the lid 14 is rotated to its open position prematurelyprior to the dispensing of the treating agent. To this end a segmentedbaffle or wall 54 is located in the manifold area 41 between theopenings 44 on wall 43 and the inlet 27. The solid portions or segments55 of the batfle 54 are located opposite the openings 44 of the wall 43.The slots or spaces 56 between segments 55 are arranged opposite thesolid portions of wall 43 between the openings 44. As can easily beunderstood, with this arrangement any treating agent that may passthrough the openings 44 during rotation of, or premature opening of thelid 14, will engage the segments 55 and thereby be prevented fromspilling out of the opening 27. The slots 55 are dimensioned to allowwater to pass through them while at the same time offer resistance tothe passage of powdered treating agent. To further retain the treatingagent in the dispenser in the event the lid 14 is rotated to its openposition prior to the dispensing of the treating agent, the cover 46 isprovided with ribs or babies 57. The baffles 57 are notched toaccommodate the outer wall of the dispenser so that they extend from aposition within the chamber 39 through the opening 51 and terminate inthe area of spout 52. The baffles 57 are angled to project upwardlythrough the opening 51 as the lid is rotated past a vertical position tofonn effective retaining walls that prevent the treating agent fromspilling out of opening 51. The free ends of the walls 49 are providedwith portions 58 (FIG. 3) that extend upwardly to complete the spout 52and provide an area to contain any treating agent that may escape pastthe baffle 57.

According to the present invention, means are provided for diverting thenormal flow of water to the tub it from outlet 23 to outlet 26 and intothe dispenser.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 7 and 8, the flow control or diverter meansincludes a flapper or gate valve 59. The gate 59 is provided at itsupper end with stub shafts which are pivotally mounted in the side wallsof the diverter body 19. Formed on the end of one of the stub shafts iscrank arm 61 which when rotated opens the normally closed gate 59. Thecrank arm 61 of the gate 59 is operated by an arm 62 which is pivotaliyarranged in the cabinet 13 of the machine to engage the arm 61. The arm62 is actuated by a solenoid 63 which may be energized at predeterminedtimes in a washing machine cycle to open gate 59 and allow water to flowthrough channel 22 and into the dispenser inlet 27 to flush the treatingagent 52 out at the appropriate pro-selected time.

in operation, when it is determined that a second wash or a soak cycleis needed due to the condition of the clothes to be washed. the user ofthe machine, with the dispenser locked in the member 29, places treatingagent into the chamber 39 and locks the cover 46. It can be understoodthat the treating agent may be inserted into the dispenser chamber 39prior to its being placed into the holding member 29. This option ismade available to the user because the latch member 48 holds the cover46 in its closed position over the chamber 39, and the baffles 57 andthe ,wall 54, under normal use and conditions, prevent the treatingagent from falling out of the dispenser outlet 51.

in order to effectively soak the clothes in the basket 11, the user mayplace treating agent into the basket 11 to be mixed with the initialfill water. The user then closes the lid 14 which places the dispenser28 in its operative position as shown in FIG. 2. It will be noted thatthe soak cycle may be extended over a period of up to It) hours so thattreating agent placed in the dispenser chamber 39, at the option of theuser, may remain there for a considerable amount of time. At thepreselected time. the machine will wash and spin out the water andproceed to the next fill cycle which will, in accordance with thepresent invention, energize solenoid 63 to divert water through channel22 and into the dispenser inlet 27 to mix and flush the treating agenttherein with the second wash fill water.

From the above description of the embodiment described hereinbefore,it'is obvious that the dispenser may be divided into several chambersand the diverter may be provided with outlets communicating with each ofthe chambers so that treating agent may be dispensed automaticallyduring the soak or first wash cycle and also during the subsequent washoperation of the machine.

While in accordance with the Patent Statutes there has been describedwhat at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of theinvention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variouschanges and modifications may be made therein without departing from theinvention and it is. therefore, the aim of the appended claims to coverall such changes and modifications as fall withinthe true spirit andscope of the invention. a

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

l. A top loading automatic washing machine-of the type having a tub toreceive liquid and clothes to be washed and a lid hingedly mounted abovesaid tub. treating agent dispenser system for said washing machinecomprising:

means for removably mounting said treating agent dispenser on said lid;

said dispenser including a body forming a chamber for storing saidtreating agent, and having 'an ingress and an egress opening connectingwith said chamber; v a cover means formed in said dispenser operablefrom a closed to an open position for access to said chamber to inserttreating agent therein; the inner surface of said cover means formingthe bottom wall of said dispenser when said lidis closed'and thedispenser is positioned over said tub; I

i said cover means being spaced frorn the dispenser body in its closedposition'to form the lower surface of said egress opening;

liquid supply means having a liquid outlet arranged for normallysupplying liquid to said tub, and another liquid outlet positioned tocommunicate with said dispenser ingress opening when said lid anddispenser are rotated to the lid closed position;

diverter means in said liquid supply means operable at predeterminedtimes in a machine cycle to divert liquid from said tub to saiddispenser ingress opening and across said bottom wall for flushing outthe treating agent stored in said chamber through said egress opening.

2. A top loading automatic washing machine according to claim 1 whereinsaid lid is rotatable substantially 180 from an open position to aclosed position.

3. A top loading automatic washing machine according to claim 2 whereinsaid cover has a hinge portion formed integral with the dispenser bodyalong one edge of said chamber and a latch means formed integral withsaid dispenser body on the opposite side of said chamher from said hingeportion for holding said cover in a closed position.

4. A top loading automatic washing machine accord- 6 ing to claim 2wherein inlet openings are provided in at least two walls of saidchamber and a liquid distribution area located around said walls fordistributing said liquid through said inlet openings.

5. A top loading automatic washing machine of the type having a tub toreceive liquid and clothes to be washed, and an access lid hingedlymounted above said tub, said access lid being rotatable substantially Ifrom an open position to a closed position, an improved treating agentdispenser system for said washing machine comprising: means forremovably mounting said treating agent dispenser on said access lid;said dispenser including a body forming a chamber for storing saidtreating agent, and having an ingress and an egress opening connectingwith said chamber; said chamber, being located so as to provide adistribution area for receiving liquid from said ingress e g; saidchamber being provided with inlet opening communicating with saiddistribution area;

a-cover means hingedalong the outer edge of said second wall foraccessrto said chamber when said access lid is in an open position, theinner surface of said cover means forming the bottom wall of saiddispenser when said dispenser is positioned over said tub;

means on said cover for spacing said cover from the dispenser body inits closed position to form the lower surface of said egress opening;

liquid supply means having a liquid outlet means arranged fornormallysupplying liquid to said tub. and another liquid outletmeanspositioned to direct liquid into said dispenser ingress openingwhen said'access lid and dispenser are rotated to the lid closedposition;

baffle means in said distribution area between said ingress opening andsaid inlet openings in said first wall for preventing said treatingagent to transfer from said inlet opening to said ingress opening duringrotation of said lid;

diverter means operable at predetermined times in a machine cycle todivert liquid from said first liquid outlet to said second liquid outletfor directing liquid into said dispenser ingress opening and across saidbottom wall for flushing out the treating agent stored in said chamberthrough said egress opening. e c s 4: a

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. M QDated AQTiI 23, 1974 inventor) Norman J' Bullock It is certified thaterror appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Cancel the original printed columns 1 through 6 and substitute thecorrected columns 1 through 8, as shown on the attached sheet.

(SEAL) Attest;

MCCOY M. GIBSON, JR.

C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents F ORMF'O-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC GDSTG-PGD 1| u.s. aovnlmnn nmmus orncl ono-uI-au,

1. Garment dewrinkling apparatus comprising: a cabinet having aninternal chamber into which garments are positioned for dewrinklingtreatment, a steam generator having a steam outlet communicating withsaid chamber for introducing steam into said chamber to moisturizegarments therein, said generator including a. a heat sink, b. a heaterin heat transfer relation to said heat sink for heating said heat sinkto a specified temperature substantially above the boiling point ofwater at atmospheric pressure, c. a valve having an outlet connected tosaid heat sink and having an inlet connectable to an unregulatedpressure water supply, said valve constructed to provide, when actuated,an output water flow at a constant rate per unit time independent ofwater supply pressure fluctuations, and d. a timer for controlling theactuation of said valve for a perdetermined interval to cause said valveto deliver to said heat sink a specified quantity of water directlycorrelated to the time duration of said interval, and hot aircirculating means having a hot air outlet communicating with saidchamber for drying garments previously subjected to a moisturizingcycle.
 2. Garment dewrinkling apparatus comprising: a cabinet having aninternal chamber into which garments are positioned for dewrinklingtreatment, a steam generator having a steam outlet communicating withsaid chamber for introducing steam into said chamber to moisturizegarments therein, said generator comprising a. a heat sink having a hightemperature surface defining a cavity therein for containing in contacttherewith a charge of water which boils at a specified temperature, b. aheater in heat transfer relationship to said heat sink for heating saidheat sink surface to said high temperature, said high temperature beingsubstantially above said specified boiling temperature, c. athermostatic regulator for maintaining said heat sink surface atapproximately said high temperature, d. means for charging said cavitywith a predetermined charge of water, and hot air circulating meanshaving a hot air outlet communicating with said chamber for dryinggarments previously subjected to a moisturizing cycle.
 3. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the heat stored in said heat sink at said specifiedtemperature exceeds the heat necessary to boil said specified quantityof water without reducing the temperature of said heat sinksubstantially below said specified temperature.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 2 wherein the heat stored in said heat sink exceeds the heatnecessary to boil said predetermined charge of water without reducingthe temperature of said cavity surface substantially below saidspecified high temperature.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein saidhigh temperature exceeds approximately 400*F.
 6. The apparatus of claim1 wherein said hot air circulating means includes an air passageupstream of said hot air outlet, and wherein said heat sink is locatedin said passage in heat transfer relationship to air flowing therein forheating said air as it flows in said passage to said hot air outlet.